"Basically we're just a rock and roll band, but we've been influenced by some other artist who use performance art in their stage presentations such as Laurie Anderson and Peter Gabriel." says lead singer caeser Pink. "I wanted to do all music I liked at one time," from Performance Artto reggae to funk and beyond. The performance art aspect of the band derives not only from artists such as Luarie Anderson and other performance artists, but from Caeser Pink's childhood. "I was a kid in the 70's when rock and roll was a big show. It's natural for me to think in those terms." Perhaps the band's standard for what makes a successful show also stems from those childhood memories: "We can't have people just applauding-we want people going wild!" So far, those high standards have been realized. "The audience reaction has been incredible," Pink says. At first glance, this soft-spoken man in jeans and a brown leather jacket doesn't seem the type to call himself Caeser Pink. Only his spiky brown hair gives you the slightest hint. He chuckes as he explains the pseudonym: "That was a name I used when I wrote for some underground magazines." He wrote on music and politics for serveral Harrisburg area magazines. "The Imperial Orgy was a book from the 1920's, mentioned in a work by Henry Miller." Caeser Pink's involvement in rock and roll began in his youth as a member of the Performance Artrock band Friction. The Centre County region wasn't quite ready for Performance Art, though. "We got thrown out of more bars.." he laughs. The group disbanded when Caeser started as a film student at Penn State univeristy. Meanwhile, future members of The Imperial Orgy were developing their music, forming the basis for what would become a synthesis of divergent musical styles and backgrounds. Jamaican born drummer Mhina Dada played for various dance troupes, incorporating the rhythms of Africa and the Caribbean. Michael Mordes played guitar in area funk and reggae bands such as Gang-guru. Ron Bio spent years playing bass for bands that ranged from The Sex Kings From Outter Space to various country and top 40 bar bands. Dave Surreal developed his musical skills in the studio as head engineer for a local recording studio. Most of the band members, with the exception of Ron Boi, met as film students at Penn State. Caeser Pink and Mhina Dada formed the original axis that expanded to include Boi, Mordes and Surreal. Dancers and background singers Samantha D. and L.A. Verbeque add both performance flair and soulful backing to the band's sound. The band develops themes through combining various styles of music, short films, choreography, and costumes. The show flows through groupings of songs about such subjects as politics, sexuality, and spiritual angst. "Most of the lyrics have some type of message," Caeser Pink says. One of the pieces, 'Night Of Rick's Discovery' is a poem written on the night a friend died. During the piece, clips from a documentary called Heart Beats Fire about the friend flash on the projection screen. The topic that has gotten the group into the most trouble lately is sexuality. A conservative Christian group in lewistown threatened to cause a riot if the band performed, so the owner of the club they were booked at cancelled the performance. Pink notes that the club has been burned down before so the owner was understandably leery about the threats. The irony of the heavy metal bar's cancellation of The Imperial Orgy's show does not escape caeser. "I was standing there in the bar, and there were flyers on the wall for another band that had blood dripping from a decapitated skull. Then the bar manager comes over and says she heard we were going to drop our pants oonstage." Caeser Pink thinks the rumors started because of the group's songs about sexuality. In this age of "safe sex" people are reverting to conservative, pre-sexual revolution values, but Caeser thinks being uncomfortable about sexuality is no excuse. "Don't think you can throw sexuality away because of the dangers. It can't be swept under the carpet and forgotten." Some of the Christian group's objections may have been the result of audience participation. During a song about exhibitionism, Pink takes a camcorder into the audience and projects the footage onto the screen, live. "For some reason the first thing people do when they see a camera on them is undress," he remarks. But he shruggs of the objections, "nudity is no big thing. The human body is not obscene." |